Author: Sankofa Review

Kurt Donald Cobain, one of the greatest rock stars America has ever produced, ended up tragically committing suicide while on top of his talent. Cobain was born in 1967 in the small town of Aberdeen, Washington. In 1987, he formed the grunge rock band Nirvana with Krist Novoselic and within a few years took it to the top. Nirvana released its debut album, Bleach, in 1989 to underground acclaim. The band’s second album, Nevermind, attracted mainstream radio, which—along with the influence of MTV—made Nirvana popular worldwide.

Nirvana’s music has remained influential to music lovers from all walks of life. Like a Picasso or Kahlo, Cobain is an artist whose work is timeless, and whose persona thus attracts curiosity from a modern audience. Since Cobain’s death, there have been an overwhelming amount of cultural portrayals of him; it’s difficult to peer through the mythology to understand the artist. The Sankofa Review asked Colin Keane to present Cobain as he is: painter, writer, musician, and Brahmin monk.

“He who in his vision is free from doubts and, having all, longs for nothing, for he has reached the immortal nirvana—him I call a Brahmin.” –The Dhammapada*

A reading of The Dhammapada—the “how-to” for aspiring Brahmin monks—reveals that several of the virtues required for monkhood, Cobain himself possessed. Coincidentally, we find these same virtues contributing to Cobain’s brilliance as an artist. Here are a few:

1. Strength of mind over body

“Considering that this body is frail like a jar, make your mind strong like a fortress…” (Mascaró 41)

It’s easy to imagine Cobain renouncing the body completely and championing the mind, in the manner of a Brahmin monk. Cobain suffered from intense stomach pain throughout life and often expressed disdain for his thin frame. It was strength of mind that allowed Cobain to conquer his physical pain. Despite his stomach condition, Cobain created timeless music and traveled the world. Cobain even transformed his bodily pain into a vehicle for his art. In Kurt’s burning stomach we discover the source of his voice.

2. Determination to swim upstream

“And the man whose mind, filled with determination… ‘he who goes upstream’… he is bound for the joy of the Infinite.” (67)

The cultural myth of Cobain portrays a lazy truant, but in fact Kurt was quite determined and active, at least in the name of his art. Beneath the disguise of a “slacker” we find a musician rehearsing incessantly and touring the world. Nirvana’s music and artistic vision drove fiercely against the mainstream, and at its origin was a writer, Cobain, who launched this vision from a logging city, of all places (Aberdeen, Washington).

Cobain’s ability to manifest his artistic dream in the face of familial and social alienation is proof of the artist’s determination. Just as the Brahmin forges ahead in the face of peers tempting him from his path, Cobain chased a vision that few others believed in or supported where he grew up. To pursue music, Cobain had to emerge from an environment stacked against him.

3. Ever striving

“Those who have high thoughts are ever striving: they are not happy to remain in the same place.” (48)

Cobain was very ambitious, and for this reason found difficulty enjoying his success. Just as a Brahmin ever strives to attain enlightenment, Cobain lived a restless life, often chasing an ideal or some higher sense of personal freedom. Punk rock was the ideal Cobain sought to embody as a young man, but at some point in his maturity Kurt became disenchanted with this ideal.

The artist is just like the Brahmin with his instinct to evolve, to avoid stagnation. Having achieved global success in the music industry, Cobain may have abandoned music completely and pursued his talents in visual art or writing had he lived.

4. Perspective on wealth

“…one is the path of earthly wealth, and another is the path of nirvana. Let the follower of Buddha think of this and… let him ever strive after freedom.” (45)

There is also proof of this in his work. Consider In Utero, Nirvana’s follow-up to the commercially explosive Nevermind. Had Cobain been influenced by the attainment of wealth, he would have crafted In Utero essentially as a Nevermind: Part II.

Yet the album is a radical departure, and far less commercial than its predecessor. With tracks like “Radio Friendly Unit Shifter” and “Scentless Apprentice”, Cobain is blatantly eschewing commerciality for artistry. Novoselic has said of the album, “In Utero is a testament to the artistic vision of Kurt Cobain.”

In the style of a true Brahmin, Cobain sought personal freedom over wealth; he merely strove for this freedom through his art, rather than through religious observance. Cobain remains relevant because his music still entertains and inspires, but also because his persona is endlessly interpretable. Why add to the heaps of regurgitated caricatures of Cobain the “doomed artist”? Viewing Cobain as a Brahmin monk gives us a fresh perspective of his noble cause, and it consequently uncovers certain origins of his greatness.

*The Dhammapada is a collection of aphorisms that epitomize the Buddhist moral system. The selections included in this article come from Juan Mascaró’s 1973 translation.

My Dear Friends,
Let’s Introduce You to the Mystic Man

By Nicholas Ellis

In a modern world lacking a credible moral compass, I advise an education of reggae’s, Jamaica’s, mine and Rastafarian hero, Peter Tosh. Tosh walked a path only he could define; paved through his beliefs, which were never compromised throughout his life.

”I know who I came to be,

I have to be me,

I don’t care what people want to say,

Because peoples will always say”

He was a revolutionary of Justice notably on the song, ‘equal rights’ featuring the words ‘Everyone is crying out for peace, yes, No one is crying out for justice’. Unfortunately this was in a decade where peace preceded his vision. It is now that we see the visionary seeds he planted through his life and classic albums, such ‘No Nuclear War, ‘Legalize it’, and ‘Bush Doctor’. As discomforting as fate will have it, history teaches in retrospect.

Tosh was born into humble beginnings on the 19 October 1944 in a tin room shanty in the impoverished yet serine seaside town of Westmoreland, Jamaica the nation’s westernmost parish. His family made their living through the local farms and would fish in the nearby sea like most families in Westmoreland.

Peter was always unique, he displayed talent as a musical prodigy from a young age beginning with the guitar at five years old then evolving onto piano music at thirteen. He would proclaim, ‘I would play the songs of the angels.’

The locals of Westmoreland would pay Peter to play them songs having a great fondness and admiration for Peter’s unique voice. In the years that passed, his fan base would move onwards from Westmoreland to Kingston and around the globe.

From a young age Peter would visit the local Baptist church with family yet it was here that Peter began to have doubts upon not only religion beliefs, but society, history, and the bias politics Jamaica had all but seen since the colonial era within the world around him.

Upon arriving in Kingston, Jamaica after his father died, Peter lived in trench town. Trench town was a slum, known as the Calcutta of the western hemisphere where you lived in fear of attack, robbery and disease. Death seemed like the only possibility of escape. Many in trench town were black and witnessing such slums forced him to act and question how he could make a difference? ‘Cold ground was my bed at night and rock was my pillow too, ‘ it was not simply poetic license.

As fate would have it another Jamaican prodigy, Bob Marley resided in the infamous Trench town and alongside Tosh, and Bunny Wailer formed The Wailers. The name was birthed out of there being plenty of wailing to do in the circumstances surrounding Trench town.

Inspiration often hijacks us in the most unlikely locations and in Trench town I would argue both Bob and Peter found many aspects in their lives here to draw upon, which would become part of the DNA of the Wailers work. The acclaimed album, ‘Catch a Fire’ deals with social injustice towards black people, and ‘the current state of urban poverty’.

At 22, Peter after denouncing his families Christian beliefs, ‘If he was created in the image of God then why isn’t God Black?’ defied the establishment and became a Rastafarian which he felt empowered him.

Peter Identified with the teachings of the Rasta that God or Jah is black; Africans are the ‘true’ chosen people and that the Ethiopian Haille Selassie was the holy messiah prophesised by the Holy Bible in Issiah about a black king being crowned in Africa. ‘It is a fact and can be proven historically, biblically Haille Selassie is the returned messiah.’

Tosh’s epic first album was titled, ‘Legalize It’, with the lead single about legalizing Marijuanna, which he saw as a fundamental statement, in part by his own Rasta beliefs, ‘This was created by the creator, it is spiritual, Jah created it for the motivation of the mind of man.’

The striking cover art for Legalize it, featured Peter smoking his chalice pipe in a marijuana plantation in the Jamaican countryside. The song and cover seemingly representing Peter Tosh the artist and the man. The great Jamaican music producer Bunny Lee who knew Tosh well during his career states, ‘Young people should think of Peter Tosh as a great revolutionary in music- and as a person.

Bob Marley_Mick Jaggar and Peter Tosh

The talent displayed in the album, ‘Legalize It’ is astonishing with music encompassing a vast array of genres including, rock, soul, and reggae teamed with a distinct voice, combined with an ethos of political songs virtuous of Tosh yet there are exquisite outpourings within ballads of a philosophical nature. Such ballads are never simple, or filled with generic phrases, such as ‘I will love you, forever’ it is more an education of emotions.

Occasionally I fail to acknowledge Peter Tosh the human, as he seems so gigantic and mythical to a simple mortal as I. Yet on the track ‘Why must I cry’ his ever endearing honesty sums up the harsh realization of love at times,

‘I will never fall in love again,

Cause only my heart feels the pain, Feels the pain’

You can hear almost imagine with suprise how lonely Peter must have been whilst you sing along to the repeated phrase, ‘Why must I trod this lonely, lonely, road, Why must I carry this heavy, heavy, load?’

Equal Rights brought together Peter Tosh s dedications to the revolutionary movements growing in Africa, and the mysticism and wonders of his personal growth as a prophet, poet, preacher and world-class musical trailblazer. The album included a number of songs that became human rights anthems over the next two decades: Get Up, Stand Up, Downpressor Man, African, Apartheid, and the title tune. There were also intensely personal songs of his revelations as a Rasta: I Am That I Am and Jah Guide ; and the ultimate rude boy, proto-punk declaration of Stepping Razor

Tosh’s enigmatic Talent attracted The Rolling Stones . The band made him the only signing to their record label and hoped to gain credibility from association with an uncompromising iconoclast. They released the album Wanted Dread & Alive. They took him on their stadium tour, introducing him to new audiences. Mick Jagger sung with him on a duet and gave him a hit (“Don’t Look Back. This wasn’t enough for Tosh. He accuses them of not promoting him properly.

He was so principled and their hedonistic rock’n’roll lifestyle didn’t interest him – he was genuinely revolutionary in his thoughts and ambitions for his music and he really did want to change the world with his songs even if it alienated him. As Tosh sang: “I’m like a steppin’ razor, don’t you watch my size, I’m dangerous!

Tosh’s third album, ‘Bush Doctor’ was a leap forward, in both production terms and showmanship as Tosh attempts to break through into the international market upon release on Rolling Stones record. Stand out tracks include, ‘Pick myself up’, ‘Soon come’ and ‘Stand firm’, as well as the mighty title track. It also featured Tosh’s duet with Mick Jagger, ‘Don’t look back’ and the biblical epic, ‘Creation’. Never on ‘Bush Doctor’ do you feel you are being ‘ranted at’ or emotions of complaint, such was the man’s talent but Tosh pulls no punches either

In 1987, months before his murder, Tosh created the album, ‘No Nuclear War. Posthumously, it won him a Grammy. The sounds were fresh and the lyrics as potent and poetic, as ever even after months in seclusion living the quiet life in rural Jamaica. ‘No Nuclear War is perhaps my favourite album from Tosh, as with retrospect, represents poetic irony in the never say die attitude, I am what I am attitude of the songs, and after all these years Peter continues combining his principles within his art.

The one love, One peace concert went down in history because Bob Marley called Manley and Seaga on stage and made them shake hands, in front of the television cameras. Tosh’s earlier, braver action was not televised because he ordered the ‘lickle pirates from America… wid dem camera and dem TV business’ to stop filming.

Today, Tosh’s legacy is gaining justice and its own equal rights around the world, amongst rock and rolls hall of fame and that of his former band mate, Bob Marley. Notably, Jamaica after long time distancing itself from Tosh seems cosy to the idea of laying claim to one of its most disobedient sons, as with a biography, a film, an annual symposium, and a birthday concert, the man born Winston, Hubert Mcintosh is finally receiving recognition. Last year, the governing People’s National Party, which Tosh supported awarded him Jamaica’s great honour, the Order of Merit, which was bestowed on Marley in the weeks before Bob’s death from cancer in 1981.

With the world still threatened by the outpourings of violent rhetoric, regarding Nuclear War and with equal rights being intensely questioned around the globe, most notably in Europe with the recent influx of immigrants from the middle east (amongst continents and countries), I feel that with what Peter Tosh championed through his Art and actions all them years ago we could create evermore harmony for everyone, standing by his pure and simple messages of justice, and equal rights.

Just as you’d find in many towns and cities across America, there’s a picturesque, tree-lined street in Santa Fe that was once a rural, residential avenue but that has evolved to become a commercial district full of restaurants, boutiques, and other appealing shops. But this street in Santa Fe is like no other. This street is the world-famous Canyon Road, known for the approximately 100 art galleries and artists’ studios all clustered together in a single mile-long stretch. This mecca for art aficionados is the home of Ventana Fine Art.

Ventana

Connie Axton, the gallery’s owner, opened the gallery in downtown Santa Fe in 1983, but she jumped at the chance to move Ventana Fine Art to Canyon Road when the 1906 brick schoolhouse became available in the mid 90s. “It needed a lot of renovation when we moved in, but we love it here,” notes Axton. She’s since added a beautiful sculpture garden around the structure, and inside the gallery, the smaller-sized rooms feel intimate and inviting. “You get to see and appreciate the art the way you would see it in your own home,” adds Wolfgang Mabry, Ventana’s Sales Director.

Paul-Henri Bourguignon Girl with a Secret

Ventana represents about 30 different artists, and the gallery prides itself on the fact that no two artists are alike, allowing collectors to discover new styles and to create unusual pairings and groupings of art. “Our mission is to show all different kinds of art,” says Axton, “as long as it’s the highest quality.” Here, collectors will find everything from nonrepresentational works by Martha Braun and Jennifer Davenport to figurative bronzes by Mark Yale Harris, Rebecca Tobey, and Michael Masse to classic landscapes by Doug Dawson and Rod Hubble. And, of course, the cornerstone of the gallery has always been John Nieto, who is one of the first living American artists to bring dramatic fauvist color with a contemporary edge to traditional Native imagery. His fresh spin on tradition parallels the transformation of the Santa Fe art scene itself, which has evolved over the last 30 to 40 years from a regional center for time-honored Southwestern art to an international hub featuring the full spectrum of contemporary art.

Albert Handell, En El Bosque mixed media pastel

One of Ventana’s gallery artists who defies simple categorization would have to be nationally known painter Albert Handell, whose landscapes are a fascinating blend of traditional and modern. He paints the quintessential scenes of New Mexico, often including those architectural landmark adobe houses known throughout the region. Yet his approach to color, composition, and textured application of the pastel medium are thoroughly contemporary and exciting.

Santa Fe Gold pastel 16 x 20 Albert Handell

Axton and Mabry note that they’re also thrilled to represent the estate of Paul-Henri Bourguignon (1906-1988), and in fact, they’re about to host their fourth exhibition of works by this 20th-century Modernist master. “He’s a pretty fascinating fellow,” says Mabry. “He was born in Belgium, and he was an artist, writer, poet, and novelist. He traveled all over the world until he fell in love with and married an American woman, an anthropologist who taught at The Ohio State University. He then moved to Columbus and continued painting there for the rest of his life.” Selected by Bourguignon’s estate manager, Jane Hoffelt, to represent the artist’s estate after his death, Ventana Fine Art has held four annual exhibitions but this is the first retrospective. “It’s exciting because you can see a progression in degrees of abstraction in his works,” adds Mabry.

Paul-Henri Bourguignon Scaldis (Antwerp)

Listening to Axton and Mabry talk, it becomes clear that these gallerists have an abiding passion for the art within their gallery. “No one can predict which works of art will appreciate in value,” Mabry points out, “which is why we encourage people to purchase art purely for the aesthetic and emotional satisfaction they derive from it.” To learn more about Ventana Fine Art, and for details on the Bourguignon exhibition opening June 2 with a reception from 5 to 7 p.m. and continuing through June 21, visit www.ventanafineart.com.

Jennifer King is a marketer, artist, writer, and entrepreneur. She currently provides art marketing services and coaching to visual artists through her company, Connect Artist Marketing. Learn more at www.connectartistmarketing.com.

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